I am curious about the Kolbe lit guides as well. How do the elementary lit plans differ from the junior high plans? I know some people actually use the junior high lit plans for the high school level, do you think this is adequate for that level (I was thinking 9th grade)? I was thinking of using the Elementary lit plans for 8th grade and then the junior high lit plans for 9th grade, but not sure if that is doable or not or maybe I should just skip doing the elementary lit, but there are a few books that we wanted to read that we did not get to this year that they schedule in the elementary lit...decisions, decisions!

I think Winter Promise or Learning Adventures would be a good fit. Winter Promise can easily be used with a wide range of ages, there are the older and younger guides, lots of different hands on activities other than just reading, and a schedule to check off. Learning Adventures (A World of Adventure) might also be a possibility. It was designed to ideally only go up to 8th grade, but I know some use it in high school as well and just add a little more in the way of reading, writing, etc. They also have younger learning guides as well now. LA is not exactly like Sonlight with a weekly schedule. It has daily assignments and each historical study is 30 days long. LA also includes language arts and science so if you don't like language arts and science being included, then it would not be a good choice. Both WP and LA are not completely secular. WP is easier to adapt in a secular manner. Just leave out the religious books they schedule. LA has specific questions and activities related to Bible readings and these can be left out as well, however, you will see these listed on each day's assignments.

She would need the Teaching Writing Structure and Style DVD set (TWSS) and manual. That is what Trisms uses as the base for the writing lessons in the curriculum. TWSS is supposed to be for the teacher to watch and then apply the lesson using their own material. The only difference with Trisms is that they provide the material for you as it applies to TWSS so you don't have to come up with anything on your own. Trisms sells the TWSS set on their website, but I would strongly encourage buying it on the IEW website because they have a generous return policy which states you can return it at any time if you change your mind. IEW also sells SWI DVD sets (for the students to watch) and their theme based books that provide material as well. These are not necessary for Trisms, however, I decided to do something really weird this year for History Masterminds. I knew I would not have a lot of time on my hands and I happened to find a used copy of the SWI-B DVD set. So I am using that instead of the Trisms assignments as our base. I think it might work out better because I can watch the DVD with my dd and the topics are not just related to history which will appeal to my dd more. Hope this helps!

If anyone is still looking for a coupon code, I have one. PM me.

I have a couple of questions for you about Keystone. You said you put together a portfolio for English credit for LLFLOTR and I was interested in doing something similar. What exactly did you have to submit in the portfolio? Were there samples of work completed? I have never put a homeschool portfolio together before, so just wondering what the requirements are. Also, does Keystone allow math to be completed and verified by portfolio as well? I really want to use a specific math program and would love to be able to do so and have my dd receive credit for it. One more question, what is the minimum amount of courses that have to be completed directly through Keystone to receive a diploma? Thanks!

Not sure yet how I am going to do block scheduling for high school, but for this year (8th grade) I plan on doing a block schedule that is based on different topics each day. We will do math every day and language arts every day with a different language arts focus each day, grammar, vocabulary, writing, etc. Then, other subjects like science, geography, history will be on separate days. A sample schedule would look like this: Day 1 - Math, spelling/vocabulary, history Day 2 - Math, writing, geography Day 3 - Math, literature, science Day 4 - Math, grammar, art The only thing I have not figured out yet is how to fit in Latin.

What does everyone use for health curriculum for middle school/logic stage? I just started thinking about the fact that we have not really covered a true health course like they offer in most middle schools. I remember taking a health course in either 7th or 8th grade and then again in 9th grade when I was in school. My dd knows the basics, just wanted something with a little more info on nutrition, first aid topics, fitness, etc. I noticed Keystone has a health course for middle school, but not sure what else is out there because I really don't want to spend that much. Any ideas would be welcome!

I am another one that did not like it. I know there are a lot of fans, but just saw it at a homeschool convention this past weekend for the millionth time and still cannot wrap my brain around it. I even went to an IEW seminar they are having and it just felt like it would not fit for me as a teacher or my dd's learning style. I think it would appeal to someone that really wants to break down the components of writing. It has a lot of detailed aspects about it. Also, from hearing the speaker it sounded like her sons benefited from it the most, they tended to be kids that did not know what to put on the paper so the concepts of IEW basically gave them a process to follow. That being said, it does fit for some people so you may just need to do a little more research to see if it would work for you. There is an IEW Yahoo group that might have information that would help you decide. Also, if you buy from IEW and you don't like the curriculum you can get a refund. If you are at all interested in SWI Level B, I was planning on posting it on the sale board in a few days.

Thanks for all the tips everyone. There are a lot of good ideas. We have never done a timeline, not sure why, but that may be something different we can try. I just pulled out one of the many history texts I have and after looking at Spielvogel's World History again I think I might just use that as the starting point and then add in a few things as we go along as far as either mapping, projects, historical fiction, etc. I just don't want to reinvent the wheel too much. I guess what I should do is on weeks we are short on time just read the chapters and discuss, but then most other weeks focus on more of the hands on stuff. I might even do reading one week and then hands on stuff the next week, alternating each week. I just always feel overwhelmed when we have too much to do at once. We are trying to do history only one day a week since my dd really needs to work more on math.

I was looking on Rainbow Resource the other day for an art curriculum for my dd as well and came across this which looks really good and comprehensive: Exploring Art Media

The backup plan is to create my own, but it is a lot of work, so still undecided if I should go that route. I have a busy year ahead of me so once September rolls around I won't have as much planning time. Basically, I have to find something that is either already planned out for me or is something I can plan in a month or so. I like the looks of the Veritas online courses, but my dd refuses to take courses online or do video based courses. Yeah, I know that a visual spatial will normally like video and computer presentations, but she is a little different in that she prefers her school to be away from the computer. Kind of drives me crazy, but I just want her to do what works for her. Has anyone else designed their own history curriculum for the year? How long did it take and was it worth it in the end?

I need some history ideas for an 8th grader (we kind of want to do an overview of world history) that is extremely right brained and visual spatial. My dd does not like boring textbooks. I bought Trisms History Masterminds, but am starting to second guess myself. She enjoys the literature part of it, but not so sure about the rest. What has everyone else used for their creative right-brained children? I guess I need something a little bit out of the box.

I am going to throw out some "other" options for you: -Trisms DAW (Discovering Ancient World) - they actually use IEW so it might work great for you. It also includes language arts so you could either continue to use BJU and skip those parts in Trisms or do all the LA through Trisms -Beautiful Feet Ancient History Guide - it could easily be used independently and it is inexpensive, might be good if you are short on time -Biblioplan - I do not have personal experience using this, but you could give your ds this schedule to follow and I think it schedules Mystery of History for you There are also other texts out there if you are really wanting to use that method, Spielvogel has a good one, World History and you could split it up into 2 years. I think there are some Spielvogel texts that are actually split up into 2 years of world history.

I have not actually purchased the plans, but thought about it several times. They have a yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/connect_with_history/ (it has old posts) and then they started a new discussion group: https://www.bigtent.com/groups/rchistory You can access part of the new discussion group just by signing up for it, but if you want access to members only parts you have to purchase the curriculum. There may be files that are shared by other members on there, not sure since I have not officially purchased it.

Thanks for all that info on Kolbe. I am kind of feeling the same way. I would probably have to swap out everything but math and science which seems to defeat the purpose. However, their flexibility in accepting other curriculum to receive credits is a plus. The only thing that really really scares me is that I would have to grade my dd's work and I have never had to do that. I almost like Oak Meadow and Keystone better for the involvement of teacher's to determine grades, etc. The philosophy behind Oak Meadow is very appealing. The only negatives I can come up with for Oak Meadow is the price and the fact that I don't like the math program they use for Algebra (Saxon). Not sure if they allow substitution on that or not. I know that they allow accredited courses to be transferred in, but how do I find an accredited math course that uses the math curriculum that would work for my dd...probably not going to happen. Maybe I will just end up making up my own transcript. That idea is sounding better every day, not to mention cheaper!

We really like these found at Rainbow Resource: Medieval World Series We liked this one for project ideas: Great Medieval Projects Have not seen these before, but they look cool: Write From History Copybooks (they have a medieval one) This one is really neat as well: Archers, Alchemists, and 98 Other Medieval Jobs

Can you explain more why you did not go with Kolbe? Does Oak Meadow accept credits transferred from Kolbe? I have been considering both, but may have to steer away from Kolbe if the credits are not useful somewhere else.

Yeah I get the whole predigested thing. I think I was just thinking of using World History as more as scaffolding and then branch out from there. We would obviously be reading historical novels and doing other projects along with it. As far as the arithmetic and prealgebra ones I was just thinking of using them more for review or extra work to reinforce math a little more. Just was not sure if anyone had used these at the logic level or are they designed more for high school.

I just picked up Barron's Earth Science The Easy Way at a local used bookstore, could not resist since it was only $3! I am liking the looks of it already. Seems to be a good overview for the logic level, especially my 8th grader for this next year. I started looking up other ones, and may try the Arithmetic one for review and then use the Prealgebra one next year if we like the Arithmetic one. I was also looking at the World History volumes, not sure how in depth they are. Anyone used any of these for a spine/textbook?

This is an interesting thread because I have banging my head on the wall for the past couple of weeks related to a math dilemma with my dd. She is struggling so much right now to transition to prealgebra and algebra concepts. It just seems like she is not ready for it. We were going over exponents and that completely fried her brain. She understands the concepts, but just gets in a hurry and multiplies wrong. I also think she is having trouble recalling pretty much everything in math we did this past year, fractions, decimals, percents, boy do I feel like a failure. I tried Derek Owens prealgebra, but she just did not click with his video lessons. So, then I went to using Chalkdust's Basic Math textbook so we could review concepts, but that is when we discovered her difficulties with exponents. So, today I have been trying to decide what to do. I have a local homeschool convention coming up this weekend so will probably look at MathUSee while I am there. I never thought I would use MUS, but I can see where she needs more practice problems, a different unique way of presenting the concepts, and MUS just might be the right fit. I am seriously thinking of taking her back to Epsilon level or even lower so I can have her review everything. In some ways it feels like a step backwards, but I don't want her to move forward without having a clear understanding of math even if she never ends up in a math oriented career (she is a pretty artsy girl). I also really like the look of Algebra Fresh Approach, but my dd is not ready for the pace of it yet, she needs a lot more review and prealgebra concepts before moving into that series. I wish they made a prealgebra book. If worse comes to worse, I will put my dd in prealgebra in 9th grade so she has more time to understand everything or possibly stretch out Algebra 1 over two years starting in 9th.

I used WP Animal Worlds (2006 edition) years ago. I don't think we added too much since we were kind of tight on funds at the time, but we took out at least one of the chapter books that we did not like (cannot remember which one it was) and instead read The Story of Dr. Doolittle. My dd really loved the book and also loved watching the older version of the Dr. Doolittle movie (from 1967). Another thing I remember doing is that my dd really loved the Ereth book and so we ended up getting the whole series, Poppy, etc and she read all of them. I think we also took some trips to the zoo, Sea World, etc. We went through the curriculum very informally, really ended up dumping the schedule and just reading what we wanted to read next.

I looked at several of MP's programs including their geography curriculum at a local store recently and came away really unimpressed. I really thought I would like it more. Just to throw out another idea, I just noticed something new (not sure if it really is new) on the Rainbow Resource website called Expedition Earth. It looks really good. It is a little pricey, but it looks like a little more meat to it than the MP program. Not to confuse anything, but there is also another curriculum called Expedition Earth that looks good as well (not sure what grades it is for). This is not the same as the one at Rainbow Resource.

My oldest dd I am holding back one more year for 8th grade so she will start 9th grade next year and of course I will have a toddler so she will be 3 when my dd starts high school. I am lucky that I only have two kids to handle, but it is still challenging with the wide age difference. I have actually decided to move a desk or table into our main living/dining area (right now our dining room is a playroom) and set up an area where I can work with my oldest dd while the toddler is running around. We have a homeschooling room, but for whatever reason I cannot keep her entertained in there for very long. I think the room is just too small for everyone to be in there at once and have multiple things going on. Crossing my fingers that this year goes better.

I have a VSL child as well and it was much easier teaching math in the early years. We could use more fun manipulatives and do Rightstart Math, etc. There were some great recommendations on here, I will have to check them out more to see what will work for my dd. One problem I am running into is that my VSL child does not do well with audio instruction, so things like Teaching Textbooks, MUS, etc are all out. She really prefers a workbook style and pages that are not cluttered. The only really good option I can come up with for algebra and beyond is Algebra Fresh Approach (there is also geometry and algebra II). If nothing else looks like it will work for us that is my plan for my dd for high school. I also was contemplating AOPS, but here is the biggy, I cannot wrap my brain around it. Although it seems interesting in presentation the sample pages online look really wordy. I would rather math get to the point a lot quicker, so for me as a teacher I just would not be able to teach it and I know my dd would not self-teach math (her least favorite subject). I also have the same problem with my dd doing mental math for all math problems. She refuses to write down anything unless absolutely necessary and even then she does everything her way. For example, she hates doing subtraction and addition problems in columns. She just manipulates the numbers in her head or writes them left to right. It kind of drives me crazy because visually I can only work the problems in the traditional column method. I guess I am somewhat weak in mental math and of course in school I only learned traditional techniques. I have finally decided that I am just going to let my dd work the problems in whatever method she chooses unless she gets a lot wrong then I will have her show her work more. I am going to follow this thread and see what other ideas everyone comes up with.

I would also recommend the smaller ones. The only benefit to the larger one is the price would be cheaper. I bought the bigger one when we lived in one space and then when we moved we had no where to put it so I had to sell it in a garage sale. Don't forget to check IKEA's scratch and dent section, sometimes you can find those in there. I found one today in the one near me, they are constantly turning over things in there so you might find something for a good deal.